A Note on the Frequency of the Henderson R-M269 Subclade in Ireland and Scotland

In my ongoing quest to connect my Henderson line back to Scotland, even DNA testing has been able to offer little in the way of meaningful progress.

While we have had several solid matches with lines previously not known to be connected with
 us, none can trace their lineage back to the old country. In fact, few can trace themselves back even so far as the two oldest identified groups (the family of James Henderson of the Delmarva Peninsula and the family of James "Isaac" Henderson of Onslow County NC, arrived mid-1660's and prior to 1720 respectively). Record-keeping in Scotland and Ireland during the 17th and early 18th century was incomplete, at best, and I have nearly despaired of finding a definitive paper trail since these two related-but-we-don't-know-how ancestors arrived in the colonies so long ago.

I have begun to toy with the idea that we might have come to Virginia and North Carolina via Ulster rather than directly from Scotland. A mid-19th century Baltimore City census record that is believed to be connected to one of our Henderson DNA matches hints that their line of the family came from Ireland. However, another record in the same census leads us to believe that the family came from Scotland. This is the newest DNA matching line of immigration we can identify, and I had hoped they would lead us back to the right spot in the UK, but so far, only more confusion.

I really can't put much credence in either claim, even if it turns out that both census records in question are indeed connected to our DNA tester. How many times have I spoken to various branches of various families and been told of their "Irish," "Cherokee" or "Dutch" blood, only to verify through records and research that they were actually English, had not a single drop of Cherokee (or other native) blood, or were actually German (Deutsch)? Too many times to be fooled again.

I was having a look tonight at the latest Henderson DNA results and I see that Jim has re-categorized our family line (previously the G1 group) into a new family group of C4 with a subclade of R-M269. I looked up the Wikipedia article on R-M269 and I see that the highest frequency of that DNA signature is found in Wales (92%), Ireland (82% with some pockets as high as 95%), and Scotland (70%). While this isn't particularly useful in helping me narrow things down, the high concentration of this subclade in Ireland cannot allow me to eliminate the possibility that our family may have originated there, or at least have lived there, possibly as settlers of Ulster.